Wear plate for brake heads



June 10, 1952 T. J. SWEGER ETAL WEAR PLATE FOR BRAKE HEADS Filed June 2, 1950 INVENTORS'. a fieaa oz'e rf Swa ger [Vafcofm 5 rfofuzs'ozz Patented June 10, i952 V .Theodore: J; Sweger'and Malcolm: S. Johnson,

Chicago, Ill.',,' assignors to; Illinois: Railway r Equipment Company,ChicagmIll ar corpora Application-June 2; 1950, Serial No. 165,691

I 1 Claim.

The invention relates to a device adapted to present day standard brake heads; which may bezeasily, applied'to the shoe-supporting" and looking key receiving lug of the brake. head to:- re.- lieve the latter of.wear andhenceobviate the necessity of replacing the" more or less expensive brake head; our improveddevice being such that itsapplication may-be readily accomplished. Qurfim'proved wear plate comprises a unitary element stamped from blanks of sheet steel formed tonoverlie the shoe supporting lug of the brak'ehead and provided with depending portions which utilize the key receiving slot or opening in the brake head lug whereby the device is secured to the head lug against accidental removal, while at the same time effecting a wedging action on the shoe holding key.

The aforementioned purposes and the advantages of our improved wear plate will all be readily comprehended from the following detailed description of the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical section of the intermediate lug carrying portions of a brake head, shoe and shoe locking key, with our improved wear plate applied and shown in section and the initial position of the locking leg of the device shown in dotted lines.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of our improved wear plate; and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the auxiliary member of the device which is adapted to be integrally applied to the main portion of the device.

The particular exemplification of our'inven' tion as shown in the drawing is formed from flat blanks of sheet steel of length and width sufficient to cover the top surface of shoe supporting lug ID of a brake head of which a portion is shown at H. The lug l supports the lug l2 of the shoe of which a portion is shown at l3; the shoe lug I2 being provided with the usual retaining steel strip l4. The head and shoe are held together by the conventional elongated key l5 which passes through the registering passages of the head and shoe lugs.

One member of the composite wear element is shown in Figure 2 formed to provide two flat faced lobes I6, l6 contoured at the rear edges to somewhat match a worn brake head lug, while the forward edges of the lobes are straight and flush with each other and united with each other by the connecting strip IT.

The connecting strip ll, at its inner or rear edge is cut or provided with a downwardly extending: leg: I81. which terminates, in; aaforward bentgtoez: I 9.; the; blankinwardly or rearwardl m" thealegr I8, beingr-openito; providepa'ssagezfourths? shoekey l5:.. V ,v;

Initially; the: .l'eg l 8. slopesxrearwardly as showm in dotted lines; in Figure-.11, and hence? into the? pathof the shoekey I5? during insertionoi: the keyfrom the top of the: brake -head.: is; apparent,- the key: l5 willmfi'exv the leg la -mp wardly and cause the toe' l9'to be forced be neath' the head lug it); while: theleg; l8: willgree; main in frictional bearing relation with: the key; and offer resistance-to"upward movement'r oi the key. I

In Figure 3, we illustrate the other or companion member of our composite wear element which also is formed from a blank of sheet steel to provide a pair of spaced lobes 20, 20, contoured similarly to the lobes I6, I6, except the lobes 20, 20, are connected at their inner or rear edges by a connecting strip 2|.

The connecting strip 2| is cut to provide a downwardly bent tongue 22, integral with the rear edge of the connecting strip 2| and of length suflicient to afford sufficient bearing relation with the rear wall of the key way.

By reason of the length of the tongue 22, in conjunction with the length of the leg [8, a more or less holding relation with the head lug is effected and accidental displacement of the wear element prevented.

With the tongue 22, which is of comparative length, arranged in contact with the rear wall of the key way or passage in the head, and leg [8 flexed forwardly by insertion of the key l5, leg I8 is thereby positioned into close or contacting relation with the forward wall of the key way or passage and causes the toe to extend beneath the head lug as shown in full lines in Figure 1.

These conditions, in the event of withdrawal of the key for shoe replacement, will effect a holding relation between the wear element and brake head against accidental removal which can only be accomplished by forcing or prying the toe from beneath the head lug and bending the leg l8 rearwardly.

After the locking key it is driven in flexing the leg it forward and disposing toe l9 under the lower brake head lug, the leg l8 and tongue 22 will prevent rotary movement of the device about its horizontal axis and the wear element will be maintained in its proper position on the head lug.

The auxiliary or companion member 20, 20 preferably is intimately secured to the first mentioned member I6, IS in any suitable manner,

such as spot or plugwelding through the holes shown at 23 in Figure 3. 7

Our improved wear element provides sim-' simplest and best embodiment of our invention,

but certain modifications are possible and may be made without, however, departing from the spirit of our invention as defined in the appended claim. a:

What we claim is:

In combination with a brake shoe having an 7 apertured lug and a brake head having a brake shoe carrying lug with a. key-receiving passage and a shoe locking 'key, a brake head wearele-' ment comprising a pair of matching members formed of fiat sheet steel and intimately secured together, each plate formed to provide laterally spaced lobes {united at one longitudinal edge by a tie strip, the tie strip of one member being at the forward longitudinal edge of the member and provided with a resilient downwardly bent rearwardly sloping leg intermediate the forward and rear edges of the element, substantially parallel with the forward edge of said one mem ber of length corresponding with the vertical thickness of the shoe-carrying brake head lug and terminating in a forwardly disposed toe adapted to engage the lower face of the brake head shoe-carrying lug, while the tie strip of the other member is integral with the rear longitudinal edge of said other member and has a downwardly bent tongue at its rear edge, said leg and tongue being adapted to extend into the shoe key-receiving passage of said brake head shoe carrying lug, the leg of the first mentioned memher being adapted to be flexed forwardl when the shoe key is driven into place and said toe forced forwardly beneath the head lug, thereby locking the wcar element in place and holding said tongue: of the second mentioned member in bearing relation with the rear wall of said keyreceiving passage in the head lug whereby rotary movement of the element is prevented.

THEODORE J. SWEGER. MALCOLM s. JOHNSON.

. REFERENCES CITED- The following references are of record in the file of this patent;

g V UNITED STATES PA'I'EnTs Number Prentice June 5, 1945 

